Leonard H. Gross and Ruth Gross, husband and wife, during August, 1943, in contemplation of divorce, agreed upon a division of their accumulated property. This agreement was reduced to writing and signed by each of them. Pursuant thereto a divorce suit was instituted in the Circuit Court of Dade County, Florida. The appellant here (the wife) was the plaintiff in this suit and she was awarded a decree of divorce and made a part of the decree was the property settlement agreement of the parties. This decree is dated August 13, 1943.
On September 16, 1943, Ruth Gross filed a petition to annul, vacate and set aside that portion of the final decree relating to the property settlement, expressed by the written stipulations of the parties, and embodied in the final decree awarding divorce. The case at bar is patterned after our holding in Miller v. Miller,
The controlling principle in Miller v. Miller, supra, is viz:
"Courts of equity have the power and jurisdiction to grant relief and set aside and annul judgments and decrees obtained by fraud, deceit, artifice or trickery. See Columbus Hotel Corp. v. Hotel Management Co.,
The approved procedure for obtaining an order or decree vacating, setting aside, or annulling a final decree, entered by a court of chancery, regular upon its face, and alleged to have been obtained by fraud, deceit, artifice or trickery, or other unlawful means, was a bill of complaint, rather than oral motion or petition for the issuance of the rule nisi to show cause. See Lorenz v. Lorenz,
We have carefully studied and analyzed the testimony offered by the appellant (petitioner below and plaintiff in the divorce proceedings) in support of and to sustain the allegations of her petition charging fraud, deceit, artifice or trickery. It is our conclusion that the plaintiff failed and omitted to carry the burden of proof required by law and for this reason it becomes our duty to affirm the decree entered in the cause by the chancellor below.
Affirmed.
BUFORD, C. J., CHAPMAN, THOMAS and ADAMS, JJ., concur.